Politics has Republicans vs. Democrats. Baseball has American League vs. National League. And photography has Nikon vs. Canon. The Nikon vs. Canon rivalry has run deep among photographers for decades. So we decided it’s time that it had its own web site. On www.nikonvscanon.com you’ll find news from both sides, arguments in support of both and a place for supporters of both to have their say.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Nikon beat Canon 3-1 in December’s monthly reader photo contests in the two largest U.S. photography magazines, but Canon turned out to be the winner for the year, beating Nikon 89-83.

Three of the winning photos in Popular Photography and Imaging’s “Your Best Shot” contest this month were made with Nikon cameras compared with one for Canon. One photo was shot with another brand.

Shutterbug’s “Picture This!” feature temporarily abandoned its contest format this month, instead asking readers to submit old family album photos, so there were no Shutterbug numbers to tally this time around. (For the nostalgia-minded, four of the family album photos were shot with Kodak Brownies, one with a Rolleiflex, one with a Speed Graphic and five with unidentified cameras.)

The winning month was the second in a row for Nikon, and meant that Nikon won six months in 2006 compared with five for Canon. (March was a tie.) But it wasn’t enough to win the year: Canon outscored Nikon 89-83 for the total number of winning pictures. All other brands combined totaled 43 for the year.

Consistent with the trend seen throughout the year, the year-end numbers show that the number of winning photos shot with either Nikon or Canon outnumbered winning photos shot with all other brands combined 4:1.

Popular Photography and Imaging and Shutterbug run photo contests for readers each month. The majority of winning photos are shot with either Nikon or Canon cameras, and www.NikonvsCanon.com tracks the winners as a means of keeping score in the perennial argument among photographers of which brand is better.

The analysis by www.NikonvsCanon.com is not intended to take sides or to indicate that either magazine favors either camera brand. In fact, the winning brand fluctuates frequently from month to month in both magazines.